Bouvé Simulation Suite named for Northeastern alumnus

North­eastern Uni­ver­sity has announced that Mar­lene Gold­stein invested $2 mil­lion to name the new sim­u­la­tion lab­o­ra­to­ries suite in the Bouvé Col­lege of Health Sci­ences in memory of her late hus­band, Arnold S. Gold­stein, P’61, PhD’90. Gold­stein, who passed away in 2010, was a pro­fessor of phar­macy at North­eastern and had served as acting dean in what was then the Col­lege of Phar­macy and Allied Health Professions.

“Arnold loved acad­emia and his thirst for knowl­edge was unquench­able,” said Mar­lene Gold­stein. “Our gift to North­eastern Uni­ver­sity will hope­fully make a dif­fer­ence in the future, one that lasts longer than our life­times. Arnold would be so delighted and very proud to see it at work.”

By training stu­dents in tech­niques designed to ensure patient safety, improve out­comes and pre­vent med­ical errors, the Arnold S. Gold­stein Sim­u­la­tion Lab­o­ra­to­ries Suite will have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on the next gen­er­a­tion of health-​​care providers and bol­ster national efforts in health edu­ca­tion, research and service.

“Arny Gold­stein was a far­sighted inno­vator who rec­og­nized the value of expe­ri­en­tial edu­ca­tion,” said Joseph E. Aoun, pres­i­dent of North­eastern Uni­ver­sity. “With this trans­for­ma­tive invest­ment, Mar­lene is solid­i­fying the legacy of his pio­neering spirit and is strength­ening the Bouvé Col­lege of Health Sci­ences as a national leader in patient safety and health-​​care quality.”

The Gold­stein Suite will facil­i­tate health-​​care instruc­tion, uti­lizing computer-​​driven man­nequins and life­like models, and will allow fac­ulty and stu­dents to repli­cate clin­ical symp­toms and mod­u­late real­istic human responses. By prac­ticing hands-​​on skills such as starting intra­venous lines, resus­ci­ta­tion, and admin­is­tering anes­thesia, stu­dents will acquire the training nec­es­sary to work as part of a strong health-​​care team, in set­tings ranging from emer­gency rooms to home care.

“Arny had a long his­tory with Bouvé and he remained ded­i­cated to our stu­dents throughout his life­time,” said Stephen Zoloth, former dean of Bouvé. “His pas­sion for teaching and inno­va­tion was unpar­al­leled, and thanks to Arny and Mar­lene the col­lege will offer one of the most advanced clin­ical sim­u­la­tion envi­ron­ments in the nation.”

Gold­stein, who ulti­mately pur­sued a career in law, founded Arnold S. Gold­stein and Asso­ciates, LLC, and was a man­aging partner at Presser & Gold­stein, LLC. In addi­tion to being an accom­plished legal author and speaker, he was an inau­gural member of Northeastern’s Health Sci­ences Entre­pre­neurs pro­gram and reg­u­larly led stu­dent work­shops on campus.

“In naming the Gold­stein Sim­u­la­tion Lab­o­ra­to­ries Suite, Mar­lene is cel­e­brating Arny’s dynamic per­son­ality and hon­oring the value he placed on edu­ca­tion,” said Diane MacGillivray, senior vice pres­i­dent for uni­ver­sity advance­ment. “Future gen­er­a­tions of North­eastern stu­dents and fac­ulty will learn about Arny and be inspired by his tire­less enthu­siasm for learning and knowledge.”

“Arnold was a great human­i­tarian,” said Mar­lene Gold­stein. “One of his greatest aspi­ra­tions was to have the oppor­tu­nity in his life­time to better people’s lives.”

More Empower Stories

In rowing, the oarsman in the seat closest to the stern is known as the stroke. More than a top-notch athlete, the stroke is a human metronome, the one who sets the team’s cadence both in and out of the water.

“It’s a key leadership role, and a tactical one as well,” explains former Northeastern rower Christopher Meehan, DMSB’75. The stroke sets the pace and calls the rowers’ moves, deciding when to flutter, when to power 10, and when to sprint.

As a former stroke on the university’s storied squads of the early 1970s, Meehan describes rowing as “a total team effort, one that builds a shared sense of responsibility and discipline.” Some of his fondest memories hinge on races won and lost, he says, “and hundreds of other Northeastern rowers feel the same nostalgia and pride.”

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of men’s rowing, Meehan and fellow rowers past and present plan an April reunion regatta on the Charles River in Boston. Their goal: to raise $1 million for new rowing shells, training equipment, and technology.

Since Meehan and his wife, Cynthia, DMSB’86, pledged a $100,000 gift in 2014, others have followed their lead. The funds, and the university’s $5 million renovation of the Henderson Boathouse, could help the current rowing team repeat its 2014 and 2013 top-five national championship finishes.

“We all had a hand in making Northeastern rowing what it is today,” Meehan says. “Let’s get excited about the next 50 years.”

Today’s squad, coached by John Pojednic, aspires to become the number-one force in Division I. With honors that include a gold medal for the second varsity eight boat at the 2014 Eastern Sprints—the team’s first gold in 36 years—this crew is prepared to pull past the competition.

It was the handshake that shook the world. In 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon and China’s Chairman Mao Zedong, the leaders of a democratic superpower and a Communist giant, respectively, ended 25 years of animosity with a historic meeting in Beijing and a gesture of friendship. For Hong Liu, MA’87, MA’89—then a 13-year-old in the metropolis of Tianjin—a mental snapshot of the moment has inspired her own efforts to bridge the two cultures.

Last summer, Liu’s dream of peace and understanding between her native China and America, where she has lived since 1985, moved her to make a $100,000 gift to Northeastern’s Asian Studies program. Liu, who worked in international relations in China before coming to Northeastern for graduate studies in sociology and economics, sees strength in both countries’ ideologies and institutions. “American culture stresses individual rights and freedoms,” says this business owner and public school teacher. “The Chinese emphasize mobilizing people to achieve a common good.”

To foster cultural exchange, the Hong Liu Asian Studies Fund will support international research, a new lecture series, innovative course development, and travel for co-ops and study in Asia. Liu says the fund will enable more faculty and students to “engage in dialogues that remind us how complementary our strengths and challenges really are.”

With an award funded by Hong Liu (left), Patricia Gavelek, a first-year undeclared major at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, will explore the language and culture of China on a Dialogue of Civilizations course in May 2015.

Like many of his classmates, Larry O’Rourke, DMSB’65, was drawn to Northeastern’s signature co-op program as a means of affording college—and he credits a co-op at United Art Company with launching his career in business merchandising. In a series of roles that capitalized on his outsized people skills, O’Rourke built a wide network of Husky relationships.

“Northeastern is like family,” says O’Rourke, whose enthusiasm for athletic events, volunteer leadership on the governing board, and generous philanthropic gifts to the university mirror that sentiment. In 1989, he established the Sean P. O’Rourke Memorial Scholarship for political science majors in memory of his late son, who like his dad was a Northeastern student. Motivated by a desire to help hardworking undergraduates, O’Rourke set up a charitable remainder trust in 2000 and recently decided to include the university in his will. Both gifts will benefit the scholarship in Sean’s name.

“I really want to contribute to the future of Northeastern and invest in the generations to come,” he says. “Many people think they have to be wealthy to leave a future gift to the university, but that’s not true. Once I took care of my family, I knew I would provide for Northeastern and other charitable interests.”

Visionaries like George Kostas, E’43, H’07, are not hemmed in by the seemingly impossible. They surmount obstacles, dive into challenges headlong, and empower others to take action. Since 2003, when Kostas began investing in nanotechnology and security research at Northeastern—his three gifts total $16 million—faculty have made rapid gains in biopharmaceuticals, communications, energy, medicine, and defense.

Numbers merely hint at the compounding power of Kostas’ support. In nanotech alone, 36 researchers have joined Northeastern’s faculty. Their work has led to $80 million in new federal and private grants, 200 patents, and more than 1,000 scien­tific papers.

The key to such yields, Kostas asserts, is putting “as many brains as possible to work on a problem.” To thrust progress into high gear, he says, universities must reimagine their relationship to industry and government. Instead of working in isolation to build technologies on the na­noscale or combat global terrorism, faculty-researchers must link their intellectual creativity to industry’s profit-driven pragma­tism and the government’s deep resources.

When Northeastern needed innovation incubators, Kostas provided equipment and facilities, including the 70,000-square-foot George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security, for which he pledged $12 million. To this alumnus, the university is a model for doing things differently.

Kostas looks back with pride on so much ingenuity, knowing that society, and the country, will be the better for it. The man whom President Joseph E. Aoun has called a “patriot and a hero” deflects praise, deferring instead to Northeastern’s take-the-lead, mission-driven culture.

“Partnerships that accelerate tech­nologies are the best way to make a positive impact on the world,” Kostas told a gathering of researchers at Northeastern last spring. “Through your creativity, you will not only drive the world’s economy, you will keep your country safe.”

A childhood fan of airplane models and Erector Sets, James W. Healy, E’54, earned his first patent shortly after graduating from Northeastern’s College of Engineering. He got his idea—a new take on the ubiquitous adjustable Crescent wrench, with a plier’s tight grip—after skinning his knuckles while rebuilding a 1939 Ford convertible.

Today, Healy rewards a spirit of inventiveness in Northeastern students. Recently he endowed a new scholarship fund for standout undergraduates with a gift of $5 million, bringing his total gifts and pledges to the college to more than $9 million.

The James W. Healy Scholars Fund will provide one or more aspiring engineers with full tuition, room, and board, and support exceptional individuals aiming to stay for a graduate degree. In 2006, Healy established a charitable remainder trust for the College of Engineering that he says will ultimately augment this new fund. And in 1999, he funded a Legacy Scholarship to recruit and retain exceptional undergraduates.

Healy is the founder and former president of Healy Systems, Inc., which he started in 1965 as Cambridge Engineering, Inc., and sold in 2006. During a prolific career, he designed and patented several vapor recovery systems to reduce gasoline vapor emissions during vehicle refueling. These systems, which significantly reduce hydrocarbon production, are used by more than 100,000 gas service stations worldwide.

Healy has amassed more than 90 patents so far. Never idle, he’s now focused on wave energy air turbine generator system technology, which has applications in the renewable clean-energy sector. “I view this work as contributing to a better life for people on our planet,” he says.

Healy credits co-op for sparking his interest in mechanical engineering, and for enabling him to earn a salary while he learned on the job. “Co-op made my education possible,” says the inventor, who now makes a Northeastern education possible for other curious, gifted minds.

For budding scientists, research co-ops are the hot new thing at Northeastern. Thanks to trustee Carole Shapazian, LA’66, MS’72, seven Shapazian Scholars have completed co-ops at leading research laboratories, hospitals, and non-profits.

According to Northeastern chemistry professor and department chair Graham Jones, these undergrads showed their mettle by doing PhD-level work. “They dive in for six months, contributing from day one because they’re highly skilled and well-funded.”

Shapazian was so impressed she recently endowed her namesake co-op fund. “I’ve been an advocate for chemistry majors who see research and grad school in their future,” she says, “and Graham ensures a high return on my investment.”

A retired Polaroid Corporation executive, Shapazian attributes much of her success to her three research co-ops. Within a few years of joining the photography giant, she published a paper and was awarded two patents.

“The impact of Carole’s support on our students and on our department’s reputation is impossible to quantify,” Jones says. “When prospective students hear from our graduates, their reaction is, ‘Wow—count me in.’ ”

Enrique Razon is a results-oriented man who brings the same focus to his company’s charitable giving as he does to its business plan.

As chair and president of Manila-based International Container Terminal Systems Inc., which operates 27 ports in 19 countries, Razon is optimistic that economic growth in the Philippines will continue, and feels an urgent need to help build his country’s workforce.

That’s why, at his behest, the ICTSI Foundation recently funded two full Northeastern scholarships for Filipino public school graduates.

“It’s easy for successful companies to just give to the poor,” he observes, “but in the long term, education is the better way.”

For many international students, an American education is beyond reach because most scholarships target U.S. citizens. But through Northeastern, Razon is opening doors.

“This is not a gift; it’s an investment,” says Razon, whose daughter Katrina, AMD’14, graduated in May. Higher education shouldn’t be reserved for the wealthy, he says. Students who can’t afford a leading U.S. university “are as smart and capable as anyone. Once empowered, they will be able to build a better country.”

“The ICTSI Foundation supports young talent, which is the engine of prosperity. That’s the strategy here. We need more highly educated people to keep the momentum going.”

When an ambitious student with a great idea hits a stumbling block, what’s the worst that could happen? If guidance and resources are scarce, that student might miss a life-changing opportunity. Investment portfolio manager Brian Wenzinger, CS’89, is ensuring that scenario doesn’t happen at Northeastern.

Mindful that mentorship and funding are frequently lynchpins to success, this pragmatic philanthropist has invested $1 million to establish the Larry Finkelstein Innovative Computing Education Endowment (ICEE) at the College of Computer and Information Science (CCIS). Named for Wenzinger’s collaborator on the project—who is his one-time professor and the college’s former dean—the fund advances academic and research partnerships between students and faculty.

“Computer science is a vast and continually changing field,” Wenzinger observes. “I want to support students who have that creative spark, and push them to experiment and challenge themselves.”

Spurred by his generosity, CCIS faculty and students teamed up to develop and publish Realm of Racket, a computer programming guidebook by freshmen for freshmen. The group wrote and illustrated the manual in graphic novel format, united by a knack for data analysis and problem solving—talents Wenzinger himself uses each day as a principal at AJO, a Philadelphia-based investment adviser firm.

At Northeastern, Wenzinger was a Carl S. Ell Presidential Scholar. “The university gave me the basis for learning and work, and enabled to me to go somewhere in life with the skills that I had.” His gift to launch ICEE is the largest ever made to the college and marks his most recent investment in a long history of giving back to students.

“At the end of the day, my goal is to enhance the educational experience,” he says. “Hopefully other alumni will be inspired to take what I’ve started and build upon it.”

Think about how you got the jeans you’re wearing. As the con­sumer, your role was pretty simple: You went to the store, tried them on, flashed the plastic, and left with your pur­chase. But that’s merely the tail end of a mas­sive, com­plex global process that brought those jeans from ini­tial design to man­u­fac­turing to the store where you found them.

Spencer Fung, PA’96, group chief oper­ating officer and exec­u­tive director of Li & Fung, is immersed in this intri­cate process. He heads up global infra­struc­ture for Li & Fung, a multi­na­tional group head­quar­tered in Hong Kong that engages in the design, devel­op­ment, sourcing, and dis­tri­b­u­tion of con­sumer goods world­wide. The com­pany man­ages end-​​to-​​end supply chains to con­nect more than 7,000 retailers and 15,000 sup­pliers glob­ally through three busi­ness net­works com­prising trading, logis­tics, and distribution.

Fung, who is also a member of Northeastern’s Board of Trustees, spoke at the university’s CEO International Forum in Hong Kong on May 28.

In his talk titled “New par­a­digms in global sourcing,” Fung described how the family busi­ness was founded in 1906, its global expan­sion over gen­er­a­tions, China’s labor force, and the chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties facing the com­pany today.

He said numerous fac­tors shape the global sourcing arena, including the price of raw mate­rials, wages, demo­graphics, trade rela­tions, and polit­ical and eco­nomic sta­bility. This all makes for a mul­ti­fac­eted global supply chain that’s evolving daily and facing new chal­lenges and opportunities—whether it be con­sumer trends or needs, regional trade agree­ments, pro­to­cols due to wage infla­tion, or safety mea­sures fol­lowing last year’s deadly col­lapse of a Bangladesh clothing factory.

“If you look at the global sourcing land­scape, there is no con­stant. Almost every week you’re reacting to some­thing,” Fung said. “You have to be nimble, fast, and flex­ible to be able to change almost on the fly. Oth­er­wise you’ll have no goods to sell, and you’ll have no jeans to wear.”

In wel­come remarks, North­eastern Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun ref­er­enced the impact Fung said his own inter­na­tional co-​​op expe­ri­ence had on his career. Aoun also lauded the oppor­tu­ni­ties Li & Fung has been pro­viding North­eastern stu­dents with in Hong Kong. North­eastern is a global leader in expe­ri­en­tial edu­ca­tion anchored in its sig­na­ture co-​​op pro­gram. Since 2006, stu­dents have com­pleted expe­ri­en­tial learning oppor­tu­ni­ties in 114 countries.

“We need to increase the oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents to go over­seas because we want them to be exploring the world and becoming global cit­i­zens,” Aoun said.

For his part, Fung’s job requires him to be closely in tune with the global busi­ness world, or risk Li & Fung falling behind its com­peti­tors. Along with keeping up with tra­di­tional fac­tors that affect the global supply chain, Fung pointed to new forces coming into the fold. Social media has driven com­pa­nies to be more trans­parent. The “fast fashion” trend has trans­formed the industry by dra­mat­i­cally shrinking the pro­duc­tion cycle and forcing industry to churn out new clothing options much more quickly than ever before. And omni-​​channel retailing pro­vides a seam­less, inte­grated cus­tomer expe­ri­ence that today’s con­sumers expect.

Fung said pre­dicting the impact of emerging fac­tors isn’t easy; rather, the key is set­ting up an infra­struc­ture that can react swiftly to them. To that end, he called 3-​​D printing “the biggest unknown.”

“Right now, it’s a hobby for enthu­si­asts or pro­to­typing, but who knows about tomorrow?” he said. “I can imagine a day when there are fac­to­ries in Mexico or North Car­olina with thou­sands of 3-​​D printers mass pro­ducing prod­ucts for the con­sumer and cus­tomizing every­thing. You can even do it at home. What will that do to global supply chains? There are huge social implications.”

In a Q-​​and-​​A fol­lowing his talk, Fung fielded inquires on topics ranging from the work-​​life bal­ance to family busi­nesses. One attendee asked him to name the biggest com­pet­i­tive pres­sure facing his busi­ness. In response, Fung said, “Our industry is highly frag­mented around the world. … As large as we are as a com­pany, we have a small share of global sourcing. Com­pe­ti­tion is every­where.” He added: “Being able to com­pete with these small– and medium-​​sized entre­pre­neurial quick-​​moving units is what we’re going against.”

Wednesday’s event coin­cided with the launch of Northeastern’s his­toric Empower cam­paign in Hong Kong. Launched one year ago, Empower: The Cam­paign for North­eastern Uni­ver­sity, is a com­pre­hen­sive fundraising drive to secure $1 bil­lion in sup­port of pro­grams and ini­tia­tives, with a par­tic­ular focus on three strategic goals: stu­dent finan­cial sup­port and finan­cial aid, fac­ulty advance­ment and expan­sion, and inno­va­tion in edu­ca­tion and research.

As chief executive officer of the fourteenth-largest advertising agency in the United States, Karen Kaplan has been a driving force in helping grow Hill Holliday to over $1 billion in annual billings since being hired as a receptionist in 1982. Business Insider and Advertising Age have recognized her as one of the most influential women in advertising today.

Karen shares her brand storytelling expertise with an audience of CEOs, executives, and business leaders. Her remarks are entitled “Welcome to the Human Era: The New Model for Building Trusted Connections, and What Brands Need to Do About It.”

When George J. Kostas, E’43, first began con­ver­sa­tions with North­eastern Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun six years ago about estab­lishing a state-​​of-​​the-​​art secu­rity research facility, he had a unique vision. The facility—which ulti­mately opened in 2011 as the George J. Kostas Research Insti­tute for Home­land Secu­rity—would go beyond advancing sci­ence and research in one of the nation’s most pressing fields. It would also enable unlikely industry-​​academic partnerships.

“Today, your vision is becoming a reality,” Aoun said on Tuesday, March 25 at a ribbon-​​cutting cer­e­mony cel­e­brating the opening of the Rogers Cor­po­ra­tion Inno­va­tion Center at the 70,000 square foot Kostas Research Insti­tute in Burlington, Mass. The goal of the unique part­ner­ship—announced in June 2013—is to advance basic research and develop com­mer­cially viable break­through inno­va­tions in advanced mate­rials to address global chal­lenges for clean energy, Internet con­nec­tivity, safety, and security.

“Inno­va­tion and cre­ativity are the basis for the future of this country,” Kostas said. “You have estab­lished a rep­u­ta­tion of being great inno­va­tors.” The dis­tinc­tive col­lab­o­ra­tion, he said, will improve secu­rity for the nation.

The 4,000-square-foot Rogers Cor­po­ra­tion Inno­va­tion Center was built out over the last year. It is housed within a 9,000-square-foot space at the Kostas Research Insti­tute that includes lab­o­ra­to­ries, con­fer­ence rooms, and office space designed to facil­i­tate com­mu­ni­ca­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion between the on-​​site Rogers staff mem­bers and the North­eastern fac­ulty and stu­dents working along­side them. It includes space for North­eastern pro­fessor Vin­cent Harris’ spinout company.

With sup­port from Kostas’ endow­ment, the partnership—which is expected to be the first of many at the institute—will also enable expe­ri­en­tial learning oppor­tu­ni­ties through stu­dent research co-​​ops, spon­sored research and devel­op­ment pro­grams, and other industry-​​classroom interactions.

Since its incep­tion more than 180 years ago as a paper com­pany, Rogers Cor­po­ra­tion has had to evolve to accom­mo­date the shifting needs of the Amer­ican people. Today, the com­pany is a global tech­nology leader in advanced mate­rials and com­po­nents for con­sumer and power elec­tronics, trans­porta­tion, telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, and defense systems.

Rogers CEO Bruce Hoechner noted that per­haps the biggest evolution—and revolution—facing society today is tech­nology. In an effort to match the pace of tech­no­log­ical change, the com­pany sought an aca­d­emic partner to help it inno­vate more rapidly. Hoechner said Rogers was drawn to North­eastern because of its com­mit­ment to use-​​inspired research that addresses global challenges—particularly in health, secu­rity, and sustainability.

“We felt very much at home here,” Hoechner said. “We knew that we could find an aca­d­emic orga­ni­za­tion here that was not only focused on devel­oping new and great tech­nology but also tech­nology that has great appli­ca­tion for the world.”

Aoun, for his part, noted that uni­ver­si­ties have tra­di­tion­ally shied away from industry part­ner­ships. As a result, “they have restricted their impact on society,” he said. “This is why I’m very excited about this partnership—yes it’s unique, but it’s going to bring us together along dif­ferent dimensions.”

First, Aoun said, the dis­cov­eries and tech­nolo­gies devel­oped in uni­ver­si­ties only have impact when they meet the con­sumer. Second, lifting finan­cial burden off of researchers enables a reverse inno­va­tion that allows prod­ucts to enter the market more rapidly.

“We have to have a mindset that will bring together tech­nology, con­sumers, cost, and—more importantly—the safety of the nation,” he said.

Preserving our oceans is one of the greatest challenges facing humankind today. Fortunately, Ocean Genome Legacy (OGL) has come to Northeastern’s Marine Science Center to advance its mission of sustaining the biological diversity of the sea. Founded in 2001 by Dr. Donald Comb, who is also founder and former CEO of New England Biolabs, OGL is a one-of-a-kind genomic collection that includes some of the ocean’s rarest, strangest, and most remarkable creatures.

Thanks to the generosity of New England Biolabs and other private donors, OGL will continue and likely expand at its new location at Northeastern. Watch this video to see how OGL is saving the DNA of many marine species every day.

Mindy Lubber is the pres­i­dent of Ceres, a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion that’s mobi­lizing busi­nesses to inte­grate sus­tain­ability into their bottom lines. She man­ages a $10 tril­lion invest­ment fund focused on eval­u­ating the busi­ness risks and oppor­tu­ni­ties of cli­mate change. Her journey to suc­cess began as an eager under­grad­uate student—just like many of those in the audi­ence she addressed Tuesday night in the fifth event in North­eastern University’s Women Who Inspire series.

While fighting for con­sumer rights with Ralph Nader in New York, Lubber recalled, she was chal­lenged by the former leader of the green party and envi­ron­mental icon to take the issue to the state capitol and try to change the law. At first, she won­dered how much an under­grad­uate could really change. But “lo and behold, we passed the law.”

“The way that empow­ered me and the way I want the stu­dents in this room to walk out and under­stand is that we each can change the world,” Lubber said. “It was an extra­or­di­nary feeling.”

The Women Who Inspire series is designed to pro­mote the advance­ment of women and inspire the next gen­er­a­tion of female leaders in tech­nology, engi­neering, sci­ence and sus­tain­ability. Tuesday night’s event fea­tured a panel of inno­v­a­tive women leaders in renew­able energy, cli­mate change, and sus­tain­ability who dis­cussed their own careers and global growth of green industries.

“Sus­tain­ability is one of the most com­pelling and urgent issues that we have facing us today,” Diane MacGillivray, senior vice pres­i­dent for uni­ver­sity advance­ment, said in wel­come remarks.

Joining Lubber on the esteemed panel were Marcy Reed, AP’86, pres­i­dent of National Grid in Mass­a­chu­setts, and Wendi Gold­smith, CEO of Bio­engi­neering Group. Susan Hunt Stevens, founder and CEO of Prac­ti­cally Green, a leading tech­nology provider of sus­tain­ability engage­ment pro­grams for global com­pa­nies, mod­er­ated the event.

Years ago, envi­ron­men­talism was con­sid­ered a four-​​letter-​​word for com­pa­nies, the purview of dreadlock-​​donning hip­pies and “tree hug­gers.” But Reed said in the last 10 years, “the space has under­gone a 180 transformation.”

“It’s become a busi­ness imper­a­tive,” said Reed, whose com­pany stands with hun­dreds of com­pa­nies world­wide that are incor­po­rating sus­tain­ability prac­tices and poli­cies into the very fabric of their orga­ni­za­tions. “The world is changing. We need to be part of it, we need to help shape it.”

Reed said that for National Grid, which now relies on a solar energy to pro­duce 400 megawatts of power each year (that’s about the size of a small power plant), sus­tain­ability also presents a social imper­a­tive that affects jobs, cus­tomers, and moving society forward.

Gold­smith, for her part, noted that when Hur­ri­cane Kat­rina dev­as­tated New Orleans in 2005, her com­pany helped the city rebuild—while simul­ta­ne­ously building its own rep­u­ta­tion as a leader in sustainability.

She said com­pa­nies today have to play an increas­ingly active role in iden­ti­fying and embracing the next gen­er­a­tion of solu­tions. “So many people don’t know that we now have the world’s most advanced [sus­tain­able] infra­struc­ture,” said Gold­smith, who noted that such sus­tain­ability efforts helped save Louisiana from more than $30 mil­lion in damage when Hur­ri­cane Isaac struck in 2012.

Lubber explained how sim­ilar invest­ments would con­tinue to strengthen the U.S. economy, noting that the clean tech­nology industry is expected to be valued at $36 tril­lion by 2050. “Energy effi­ciency is a mas­sive oppor­tu­nity,” she said. The pan­elists noted that this oppor­tu­nity would take shape as com­pa­nies invest in clean energy tech­nolo­gies that already exist—such as solar panels, wind­mills, and biofuel—and the inno­v­a­tive green tech­nolo­gies of tomorrow.

“What’s really exciting is all the stuff we haven’t even thought of yet,” Gold­smith said.

Bringing the con­ver­sa­tion back to the stu­dents in the audi­ence, Hunt Stevens urged them to con­sider oppor­tu­ni­ties in the green industries.

“This industry needs you,” she said. “It needs the world’s best mar­keters; it needs the world’s best accoun­tants; it needs the world’s best engi­neers and soft­ware devel­opers, and cus­tomer ser­vice people. There is a huge oppor­tu­nity in this space for you to do well and to do good.”

Alexis Ohanian, open internet activist and co-founder of Reddit, came to Northeastern’s campus to speak to an audience of nearly 500 students, faculty, and alumni as part of his Without Their Permission book tour. During his hour on stage, Alexis shared his story and gave advice to budding entrepreneurs. He also interviewed Northeastern alumnus Michael Norman, CSSH’05 about his crowdfunding investment platform, Wefunder.

Alexis encouraged Huskies to “get in the habit of taking ideas and executing them.” Mike’s advice – “Be diverse with co-op and learn about how the world works.”

Northeastern’s Entrepreneurship Club hosted the event in Blackman Auditorium as part of their weekly speaker series. The Empower Campaign provided video coverage.

North­eastern Uni­ver­sity has announced plans to build a state-​​of-​​the-​​art inter­dis­ci­pli­nary sci­ence and engi­neering research facility in Rox­bury on Columbus Avenue. Sched­uled for com­ple­tion in fall 2016, the new com­plex will pro­vide 220,000 square feet of research and edu­ca­tional space and is part of the university’s ongoing effort to expand its capacity to engage in path-​​breaking research across disciplines.

“This new com­plex is the canvas upon which our fac­ulty col­leagues, stu­dents, and staff will pro­duce the next gen­er­a­tion of break­throughs,” said North­eastern Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun. “It will be a hub of schol­ar­ship and teaching and will signif­i­cantly advance our mis­sion as a use-​​inspired research uni­ver­sity. We are also proud to create the first pri­vate research devel­op­ment in Roxbury.”

The inter­dis­ci­pli­nary sci­ence and engi­neering com­plex will be located next to the expanding Rug­gles MBTA sta­tion and house wet and dry lab facil­i­ties, edu­ca­tional lab­o­ra­to­ries, class­room space, and offices for fac­ulty and grad­uate stu­dents. It will fea­ture cutting-​​edge sci­en­tific equip­ment to be shared by researchers from Northeastern’s Col­lege of Sci­ence, Bouvé Col­lege of Health Sci­ences, Col­lege of Engi­neering, and Col­lege of Com­puter and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ence. The project will also include a 280-​​seat audi­to­rium and a large atrium with a spiral staircase.

The six-​​story facility will be designed with open shared lab­o­ra­tory space, and numerous areas that pro­mote informal serendip­i­tous dis­cus­sions will foster inter­dis­ci­pli­nary col­lab­o­ra­tion. Through the lib­eral use of glass walls, fac­ulty, stu­dents, and vis­i­tors will be able to view a broad range of research activ­i­ties that are underway.

“Solu­tions to many of the world’s most pressing chal­lenges are cre­ated at the inter­sec­tion of dis­ci­plines,” said Stephen W. Director, provost and senior vice pres­i­dent for aca­d­emic affairs. “Our inte­grated sci­ence and engi­neering com­plex will allow North­eastern researchers to address chal­lenges across many fields, with par­tic­ular emphasis on our sig­na­ture research themes of health, secu­rity, and sustainability.”

Con­struc­tion of the new facility will pro­vide much-​​needed space for Northeastern’s ongoing faculty-​​hiring ini­tia­tive. Over the past seven years, the uni­ver­sity has recruited 387 new tenured and tenure-​​track fac­ulty mem­bers, many of whom have joint appoint­ments across aca­d­emic dis­ci­plines. The uni­ver­sity is con­tin­uing to recruit tenured and tenure-​​track fac­ulty at a record pace.

North­eastern has increased its annual research funding by more than 100 per­cent since 2006, and in the 2011–2012 aca­d­emic year the uni­ver­sity received more than $100 mil­lion in external research funding. The uni­ver­sity is also diversifying its research funding by delib­er­ately increasing sup­port from phil­an­thropic and cor­po­rate sources, not just gov­ern­ment grants.

The new LEED-​​certified facility will be con­structed on a 3.5-acre parcel owned by North­eastern and cur­rently used as sur­face parking. The site’s devel­op­ment pro­vides an oppor­tu­nity to strengthen the Columbus Avenue cor­ridor, improve pedes­trian con­nec­tions, and create new open space and streetscape ameni­ties to be shared with the sur­rounding com­mu­nity. The project rep­re­sents an invest­ment by the uni­ver­sity of approx­i­mately $225 million.

Designed by the archi­tec­tural firm Payette, the project also includes plans to con­struct a unique pedes­trian bridge over the MBTA Orange Line, com­muter rail, and Amtrak tracks. The bridge—similar to New York City’s “Highline”—will con­nect two dis­tinct sec­tions of Northeastern’s campus and bol­ster the university’s strong ties to its sur­rounding communities.

The new sci­ence com­plex is a key part of Northeastern’s Insti­tu­tional Master Plan, which uni­ver­sity offi­cials devel­oped over the past two years in col­lab­o­ra­tion with fac­ulty, stu­dents, staff, city plan­ners, and campus neigh­bors. The plan was approved by the Boston Rede­vel­op­ment Authority on November 14.

“At the outset of this process we iden­ti­fied mutu­ality, respect, and trans­parency as our guiding prin­ci­ples,” said Ralph Martin II, senior vice pres­i­dent and gen­eral counsel, who spear­headed the Insti­tu­tional Master Plan Process. “After nearly two years of dis­cus­sion, debate, and nego­ti­a­tions with elected offi­cials and neigh­bors, and guided by the rede­vel­op­ment authority, we believe we have a plan that serves those prin­ci­ples and will have a trans­for­ma­tional effect on both North­eastern and our neighborhoods.”

Through a new part­ner­ship between IDEA and the School of Law’s Com­mu­nity Busi­ness Clinic, the Boston-​​based entre­pre­neurs unaf­fil­i­ated with North­eastern have been accepted to the university’s student-​​run ven­ture accel­er­ator for the first time ever.

The clinic, directed by law pro­fessor Peter Sessa, offers law stu­dents real-​​world expe­ri­ence in pro­viding free, business-​​related legal ser­vices to star­tups, entre­pre­neurs, and small busi­nesses in the Boston area.

“This is the real prac­tice of law,” Sessa explained. “It’s not a sim­u­la­tion course. We expect the unexpected.”

Sessa’s clinic teamed up with IDEA to pro­vide three of its clients with busi­ness sup­port from IDEA that is typ­i­cally reserved for star­tups with a North­eastern affil­i­a­tion. Pre­vi­ously, unaf­fil­i­ated clients could attend work­shops and receive coaching from the IDEA staff but could not get funding—until now. IDEA’s $1,000 Pro­to­type Fund Grants will be avail­able to these ventures.

“The value added is the coaching, men­toring, and busi­ness plan­ning sup­port we can pro­vide them,” said Max Kaye, CEO of IDEA. “This was a com­mu­nity out­reach oppor­tu­nity for us.”

Stu­dents in the clinic selected three of their clients to join IDEA: Pixel Life, an under­ground and hip-​​hop clothing brand founded by North­eastern psy­chology major Vlad Dim­itrov, S’15; Envite Design, a design and pro­duc­tion com­pany; and Prac­tice Gigs, a social net­working plat­form that helps ath­letes find prac­tice partners.

Toni Oloko, the 17-​​year-​​old Boston Trinity Academy stu­dent who started Prac­tice Gigs, spoke highly of working with North­eastern. “My expe­ri­ence with IDEA and the Com­mu­nity Busi­ness Clinic has been great,” Oloko said, noting that a mentor at the Small Busi­nesses Asso­ci­a­tion referred him to the law school clinic. “With their help, Prac­tice Gigs Inc. attended NEXPO in November, but more impor­tantly we have received advice on our busi­ness model and busi­ness plan.”

Kaye has received pos­i­tive feed­back from all three ven­tures, which have already attended work­shops on busi­ness mod­eling, pitching, and financing. Last month, Envite Design joined Prac­tice Gigs in par­tic­i­pating in NEXPO, a bian­nual entre­pre­neur­ship expo­si­tion hosted by IDEA.

The law stu­dents, for their part, are also ben­e­fiting from this new part­ner­ship. According to Sessa, their ser­vice has taught them the impor­tance of col­lab­o­ra­tion and delegation.

“All new lawyers expe­ri­ence some stress because they think they need the answers to all their clients’ ques­tions,” Sessa explained. “My stu­dents learn the value of col­lab­o­ra­tion and being able to send their clients to another resource for cer­tain questions.”

Jan­uary marked the begin­ning of the law school’s second quarter of the year, which means new clients and new stu­dents for Sessa’s clinic. Both he and Kaye said they hope to add three new ven­tures to the IDEA family in addi­tion to the orig­inal three, which are expected to con­tinue working with IDEA.

On November 15-16, the North­eastern com­mu­nity cel­e­brated the university-​​wide launch of its $1 bil­lion Empower cam­paign with Empowerfest, an exciting show­case fea­turing dozens of inter­ac­tive exhibits that high­lighted inno­v­a­tive stu­dent and fac­ulty research projects, as well as musical per­for­mances, food and many fun activ­i­ties for all ages.

Empowerfest served as the cen­ter­piece of Home­coming Weekend, which brought together gen­er­a­tions of alumni and stu­dents, fac­ulty, staff, and friends to cel­e­brate the university’s momentum and show their North­eastern pride.

Empowerfest took over the Cabot Field House with global expe­ri­en­tial learning, use-​​inspired research, entre­pre­neur­ship and inno­va­tion, and ath­letics woven through the myriad hands-​​on activ­i­ties. These exhibits included star­tups sup­ported by IDEA, Northeastern’s student-​​run ven­ture accel­er­ator; a closer look at the university’s new 3-​​D Printing Studio; live touch tanks fea­turing species at the center of some of Northeastern’s marine sci­ence research; inter­ac­tive cyber­se­cu­rity, and game design demos; and global endeavors from Northeastern’s Social Entre­pre­neur­ship Insti­tute.

“Many of you have told me that you love what you are seeing here today,” Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun said during his wel­coming remarks. “But this didn’t happen by itself. The stu­dents, staff, and fac­ulty have been working hard. But more impor­tantly, you empow­ered them. You made it happen because many of you have invested in them.”

Fac­ulty and staff received a spe­cial pre­view of Empowerfest on November 15. About 2,000 people attended Empowerfest over the two days.

Diane MacGillivray, senior vice pres­i­dent of uni­ver­sity advance­ment, said cel­e­brating Empowerfest during Home­coming Weekend allowed for the oppor­tu­nity for North­eastern to honor its past while also look toward its bright future.

“This is bringing together a wider audi­ence to show­case what is hap­pening on this campus,” MacGillivray said. “We wanted people to come and redis­cover the pride of not just what has hap­pened, but what is hap­pening. A lot of people have expressed amaze­ment this is hap­pening at Northeastern.”

In May, North­eastern announced the launch of Empower: The Cam­paign for North­eastern Uni­ver­sity, a com­pre­hen­sive fundraising drive to secure $1 bil­lion in sup­port of pro­grams and ini­tia­tives, with a par­tic­ular focus on three strategic goals: stu­dent finan­cial sup­port and finan­cial aid, fac­ulty advance­ment and expan­sion, and inno­va­tion in edu­ca­tion and research.

The unprece­dented cam­paign aims to raise $500 mil­lion in phil­an­thropic sup­port and $500 mil­lion through industry and gov­ern­ment part­ner­ships by 2017, which together will shape the future of teaching, learning, and inno­va­tion in edu­ca­tion and research.

Richard A. D’Amore, DMSB’76, co-​​chair of the Empower cam­paign, wel­comed guests on November 16 and said it was great to see all of Northeastern’s hard work in action. Last year, D’Amore teamed up with fellow campaign co-chair Alan McKim, DMSB’88, to make a com­bined $60 mil­lion gift—the largest phil­an­thropic invest­ment in Northeastern’s his­tory and which renamed the busi­ness school the D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness.

“It is fab­u­lous to see the energy,” D’Amore exclaimed. “We know all the met­rics that are hap­pening around here, the appli­ca­tions, the quality of the stu­dents, the great fac­ulty hiring, but to see it all in action is just great for us. We are all lucky to be part of this fab­u­lous insti­tu­tion. We all have to sup­port it to the extent we can. ”

Home­coming Weekend also allowed stu­dents, fac­ulty, staff, and alumni to see many of Northeastern’s ath­letics teams in action. Women’s vol­ley­ball held two games on campus, fans cel­e­brated their Husky spirit at Fan­Fest prior to the men’s hockey game against New Hamp­shire, and men’s bas­ket­ball earned its first vic­tory of the year by win­ning its home opener against Cen­tral Con­necticut State, 83–69.

The Var­sity Club Hall of Fame, which rec­og­nizes the accom­plish­ments of North­eastern student-​​athletes, coaches, and bene­fac­tors, held an induc­tion cer­e­mony and dinner on November 16 to wel­come six new inductees.

The North­eastern Choral Societyhosted an alumni recep­tion as a lead up to its November 17 con­cert at Jordan Hall, which marked pro­fessor Joshua Jacobson’s 40 years as its con­ductor. And the sixth annual Big Dog 5k road race and walk was held in Dedham, with par­tic­i­pants fin­ishing the new course on the revamped ath­letic track at North­eastern’s Dedham campus.

At Empowerfest, every aspect of Northeastern’s momentum was on dis­play. Vis­i­tors got an up-​​close look at the real and robotic crea­tures from the Marine Sci­ence Center and ven­tured over to the Game Design Dome to play a variety of video games designed in campus facilities.

Atten­dees used the iCRAFT, an eye-​​controlled robotic feeding arm devel­oped by North­eastern stu­dents, to pick up candy, and enjoyed per­for­mances by musical groups on campus. As an added bonus, vis­i­tors also had the oppor­tu­nity to get their photo taken with the Boston Red Sox 2013 World Series trophy.

“It’s inter­esting to see the huge expan­sion taking place since I walked these hal­lowed halls,” said Phillip Mecajni, a double Husky who earned his under­grad­uate degree in engi­neer tech­nology in 1976 and his MBA in 1978.

Ali Fraenkel, class of 2016, was one of sev­eral stu­dents man­ning the booth for North­eastern Students4Giving booth, an expe­ri­en­tial phil­an­thropy edu­ca­tion pro­gram that com­bines rig­orous aca­d­emic con­tent with real-​​dollar grant making. She said the two-​​day event was a great suc­cess. “It’s great to touch upon what we do,” Fraenkel said. “I think it has been very suc­cessful. It was cool to have a wide range of con­ver­sa­tions and gauge people’s interest based on those conversations.”

“What­ever your pas­sion is, choose a piece of this uni­ver­sity and make it happen,” Aoun told the crowd.

Despite challenging economic times, Northeastern secured $63.3 million in new gifts and pledges in fiscal year 2013, handily surpassing the year’s goal by $8.3 million. That announcement comes on the heels of the official launch in May of Empower: The Campaign for Northeastern University, the most ambitious fundraising effort in the university’s history.

The kickoff of Empower was punctuated this week by the release of the campaign’s official website. Mirroring Northeastern’s innovation-driven ethos, the site not only announces gifts of all sizes, but also invites alumni and other supporters to explore inspiring stories of student and faculty empowerment—and to share their own memories and anecdotes about formative Northeastern experiences and relationships.

Support from all members of the community—alumni, students, parents, friends, and university partners—has been integral to Northeastern’s rise as a global, experiential research university. Since 2006, Northeastern’s annual fundraising has more than doubled. Undergraduate alumni set a record for giving in fiscal year 2013, with an impressive 13,103 individuals making gifts.

“Northeastern has a bold vision for the future, and the philanthropic support of our community and friends is giving life to that vision,” said Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun. “Our momentum is unprecedented. Our goal is to sustain it for generations to come by remaining at the leading edge of research, and by continuing to attract world-class students and faculty.”

True to its global character, Northeastern followed the Empower campaign’s official launch in Boston with celebrations in July in London and Paris. Nearly 150 members of the university’s international community gathered to celebrate the campaign’s public phase—the point at which, with significant funding in hand, an institution calls upon every constituent for support. Northeastern seeks to raise $500 million from generous donors on one hand, and $500 million from corporations, university alliances, and government on the other.

“At Northeastern, these funds are highly interdependent and synergistic,” said Diane N. MacGillivray, senior vice president for university advancement. “A donor’s gift may support a faculty member, who brings in grants—which ignite discoveries, inspiring additional gifts. Philanthropy has the power to change lives—both of those who give and those who benefit.”

During the coming months, Northeastern will continue hosting Empower events across the country and around the world. And on November 15–16, Homecoming Weekend, the greater university community will convene for exciting, family-friendly campaign celebrations. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the future of Northeastern through interactive exhibits showcasing the innovation, entrepreneurship, and research of exceptional students, faculty, and alumni.

North­eastern Uni­ver­sity and the Boston Ballet have cre­ated a com­pre­hen­sive edu­ca­tional pro­gram to help pro­fes­sional ballet dancers earn col­lege degrees and to pre­pare them for careers after dancing.

The inno­v­a­tive part­ner­ship, which was pro­filed by The Boston Globe, pro­vides flex­ible and cus­tomized oppor­tu­ni­ties for Boston Ballet dancers to earn under­grad­uate and grad­uate degrees and to take advan­tage of expe­ri­en­tial learning pro­grams, including Northeastern’s renowned co-​​op model. The uni­ver­sity will pro­vide access to its robust infra­struc­ture of aca­d­emic courses and career coaching resources and work with qual­i­fied can­di­dates to stream­line the admis­sions and enroll­ment processes.

The first-​​in-​​the-​​nation initiative—called the North­eastern University-​​Boston Ballet Edu­ca­tion Program—is backed by a com­bined gift from two Boston Ballet board mem­bers: chairman Jack R. Meyer and Henri Ter­meer. Meyer is the CEO Con­vexity Cap­ital Man­age­ment. Ter­meer is the former CEO and chairman of Gen­zyme Cor­po­ra­tion and a pio­neer in devel­oping and deliv­ering treat­ments for rare genetic diseases.

“Henri, Jack, and our insti­tu­tions share a ded­i­ca­tion to excel­lence, cul­ture, edu­ca­tion, and the growth of the human spirit,” said Joseph E. Aoun, pres­i­dent of North­eastern Uni­ver­sity. “This part­ner­ship is exem­plary of acad­emia and the arts advancing the future of human talent.”

Through the North­eastern University-​​Boston Ballet Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram pro­fes­sional dancers will earn under­grad­uate or grad­uate degrees through the Col­lege of Pro­fes­sional Studies in dis­ci­plines of their choosing. A schol­ar­ship fund has been estab­lished to cover 80 per­cent of the tuition and costs for each of 16 com­pany dancers starting this month. Dancers will be able to com­plete their under­grad­uate degrees in roughly six years.

The pro­gram also cap­i­tal­izes on Northeastern’s lead­er­ship in devel­oping hybrid, flex­ible degree pro­grams designed to meet the indi­vidual needs and inter­ests of tal­ented pro­fes­sionals. Com­pany dancers will take courses on campus, at the Boston Ballet, and online. They will also receive a range of experiential-​​learning opportunities—including co-​​op and internships—that align with their career goals.

Since its founding in 1963, Boston Ballet has evolved into one of the world’s leading ballet com­pa­nies. It attracts dancers from around the globe–17 coun­tries are cur­rently represented.

While the dancers are at the very top of their pro­fes­sion, very few have col­lege degrees. Northeastern’s com­mit­ment to global edu­ca­tion, research, and expe­ri­ences dove­tails with the Ballet’s mis­sion so the part­ner­ship between the two insti­tu­tions com­ple­ment each other well.

“The intense rehearsal and per­for­mance sched­ules of the dancers make it nearly impos­sible to earn a col­lege degree,” said Meyer. “The North­eastern pro­gram pro­vides the flex­i­bility and coaching that will allow them to earn a degree while still dancing.”

“North­eastern is the per­fect match for Boston’s Ballet,” said Ter­meer. “They are at the leading edge of flex­ible edu­ca­tion and have gone all out to make this pro­gram a suc­cess. We are opti­mistic that our part­ner­ship will expand as we get to know one another.”

Mikko Nissinen, artistic director of Boston Ballet, is equally excited about the part­ner­ship. “We are all thrilled about this new col­lab­o­ra­tion with North­eastern. The oppor­tu­nity is truly a dream come true for today’s pro­fes­sional dancer,” he said.

Boston Ballet exec­u­tive director, Barry Hughson, also sees the part­ner­ship as cru­cial to the evo­lu­tion of the dance busi­ness model, adding, “The future of our industry depends on the talent of our dancers. Our ability to attract, retain, and edu­cate a world-​​class dance force will ensure the sus­tain­ability of not only Boston Ballet—but the arts industry as a whole.”

Northeastern’s University’s Marine Sci­ence Center will soon house a tissue col­lec­tion from the world’s most rare, strange, and remark­able ocean crea­tures. Based on the part­ner­ship between North­eastern, Ocean Genome Legacy and New Eng­land Bio­labs, the uni­ver­sity will be home to the Ocean Genome Legacy Center of New Eng­land Bio­labs—a pub­licly acces­sible biorepos­i­tory of DNA sam­ples from ocean species.

Founded in 2001 by Dr. Donald Comb, OGL is a non­profit envi­ron­mental research orga­ni­za­tion and DNA bank ded­i­cated to pro­moting new methods for the study and con­ser­va­tion of marine species through preser­va­tion and analysis of their DNA.

The price­less col­lec­tion will move to the Marine Sci­ence Center, located in Nahant, Mass., later this year. It will con­tinue to be used to uncover some of our ocean’s deepest mys­teries and reveal genomic infor­ma­tion that can help cure dis­eases, pro­tect the envi­ron­ment, and improve the sus­tain­ability of global food and energy supplies.

A gen­erous multi-​​million dollar gift from New Eng­land Bio­labs and other pri­vate donors, as well as a com­mit­ment toward cre­ating a matching endow­ment, will enable oper­a­tions of OGL at the Marine Sci­ence Center to con­tinue and likely expand. A new lab to house the growing col­lec­tion will be built in the coming years.

“Global change is causing mas­sive bio­di­ver­sity loss in the oceans and we are thrilled to take respon­si­bility for this unique and impor­tant col­lec­tion,” said J. Murray Gibson, dean of North­eastern University’s Col­lege of Sci­ence. “The col­lec­tion becomes a focus for our research, edu­ca­tion, and out­reach, and through this part­ner­ship we aim to accel­erate the ful­fill­ment of the goal of OGL—to pre­serve DNA sam­ples from all the ocean’s species.”

Located 25 min­utes out­side of Boston, Northeastern’s Marine Sci­ence center offers fac­ulty and stu­dents a unique oppor­tu­nity to study the human impact on the urban coastal system. Marine sci­ence researchers are building global col­lab­o­ra­tions and con­ducting ground­breaking research in areas ranging from under­water robotics to the effects of cli­mate change on the globe’s coastlines.

North­eastern fac­ulty will uti­lize the Ocean Genome Resource Col­lec­tion to aid their genomic research. Stu­dents will con­tribute to the biorepos­i­tory through field col­lec­tion and expe­ri­en­tial learning oppor­tu­ni­ties at the marine lab.

“This is a great oppor­tu­nity for OGL to join forces with North­eastern, a major research uni­ver­sity with a huge com­mit­ment to envi­ron­mental sus­tain­ability and edu­ca­tion,” Dan Distel, exec­u­tive director of OGL, said in a statement.

“The out­standing fac­ulty, stu­dents, and infra­struc­ture and the forward-​​looking phi­los­ophy of North­eastern Uni­ver­sity and the Marine Sci­ence Center pro­vide a growth oppor­tu­nity for OGL that would be hard to match any­where else.”

Busi­ness pio­neer and North­eastern alumnus Roger Marino has once again stepped for­ward to invest in his beloved alma mater by making a mul­ti­mil­lion dollar gift to sup­port the ambi­tious goals of the university’s his­toric Empower cam­paign. His pas­sion for Northeastern’s experiential-​​learning model and for its unprece­dented momentum under the lead­er­ship of Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun is the driver behind Marino’s latest gift.

He cred­ited Northeastern’s co-​​op pro­gram with giving him the con­fi­dence to suc­ceed in the fast-​​paced busi­ness world. “I became very com­fort­able inter­acting with my col­leagues because I was knowl­edge­able about how I should act in a pro­fes­sional set­ting,” he said, noting his experiential-​​learning oppor­tu­ni­ties with Raytheon and Syl­vania Lighting. “Co-​​op helped me under­stand the inner-​​working of dif­ferent types of cor­po­ra­tions so that they weren’t alien to me when I grad­u­ated from North­eastern.” Marino’s invest­ment will help future gen­er­a­tions of stu­dents expe­ri­ence sim­i­larly rewarding pro­fes­sional expe­ri­ences through co-​​op.

Marino grad­u­ated with a bach­elor of sci­ence in elec­trical engi­neering in 1961; received an hon­orary doc­torate in humane let­ters in 1996; and was named a life­time trustee emer­itus in 2009. His $2 mil­lion invest­ment is the latest from Marino who has been a loyal sup­porter of North­eastern for the last 20 years, giving back to the uni­ver­sity for ini­tia­tives focused on health and education.

“Roger epit­o­mizes the impact North­eastern has had on many of our grad­u­ates,” said Pres­i­dent Aoun. “Just as his edu­ca­tion was trans­for­ma­tive for him, Roger’s enduring com­mit­ment to North­eastern has impacted count­less mem­bers of our community.”

His gift in the early 1990s funded the Marino Recre­ation Center, which opened in 1996 on Hunt­ington Avenue. “I was really bowled over when I saw it at night, all lit up against the Boston back­ground,” he once said of his first visit to the Marino Center. “That was just amazing.”

Marino is also a bene­factor of the Torch Scholars Pro­gram, a seven-​​year-​​old ini­tia­tive that sup­ports first-​​generation, low-​​income stu­dents who exhibit poten­tial in non­tra­di­tional ways. Based on data from the first two grad­u­ating classes, 100 per­cent of scholars are either in grad­uate school or employed in their fields.

Marino grew up in Revere, Mass., and arrived at North­eastern in the fall of 1956. His father immi­grated to America from Italy in the early 20th cen­tury and worked as a tailor at a fac­tory not far from campus.

He retired from EMC in 1992 to pursue busi­ness ven­tures related to his life­long interest in sports and enter­tain­ment. He is the exec­u­tive pro­ducer of five fea­ture films and the former prin­cipal owner of the Pitts­burgh Pen­guins of the National Hockey League.

Empower: The Cam­paign for North­eastern Uni­ver­sity aims to raise $500 mil­lion in phil­an­thropic sup­port and $500 mil­lion through industry and gov­ern­ment part­ner­ships by 2017, which together will shape the future of teaching, learning, and dis­covery at the uni­ver­sity by sup­porting stu­dents, fac­ulty, and inno­va­tion in edu­ca­tion and research. The cam­paign will sup­port pro­grams and ini­tia­tives university-​​wide, focusing on three strategic goals: stu­dent sup­port and finan­cial aid, fac­ulty advance­ment and expan­sion, and inno­va­tion in edu­ca­tion and research.

Speaking to nearly 400 people gath­ered in the Marino Center, Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun said the Empower cam­paign is about “excel­lence, quality, and impact.” Phil­an­thropic sup­port, he said, will increase schol­ar­ships for stu­dents to pursue inno­va­tion, entre­pre­neur­ship, and pro­fes­sional lead­er­ship; pro­vide resources for fac­ulty to hurdle bar­riers and solve global chal­lenges through use-​​inspired, inter­dis­ci­pli­nary research; and deepen alumni con­nec­tions with the university.

“I am asking you to empower our com­mu­nity and give life to a bold new vision of what North­eastern can be,” he said. “I am asking you to strengthen your university—and your North­eastern community—for decades to come.” By doing so, Aoun said North­eastern will con­tinue attracting dis­tin­guished stu­dents and fac­ulty and remain on the leading edge of research, par­tic­u­larly in areas of health, secu­rity, and sustainability.

A series of major gifts have already set the stage for the Empower campaign’s suc­cess, including a $60 mil­lion gift from alumni Richard D’Amore and Alan McKim to the busi­ness school, now known as the D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness. D’Amore and McKim will serve as the Empower cam­paign co-​​chairs.

On Thursday night, the pair cited both the enor­mous pro­fes­sional and per­sonal impact North­eastern has made in their lives and the university’s incred­ible momentum as fac­tors to remain actively engaged on campus and ulti­mately make their com­bined gift last fall. D’Amore, who earned his bachelor’s degree in 1976, said he and other alumni have been con­sis­tently impressed by how much Northeastern’s world-​​class rep­u­ta­tion, quality of stu­dents, global pro­file, and depth of research have soared since he was a student.

“We’re tremen­dously proud of our uni­ver­sity,” D’Amore said.

“We rec­og­nize Northeastern’s poten­tial, just as North­eastern rec­og­nized our poten­tial as stu­dents,” added McKim. “This is a mon­u­mental day for the university.”

Henry J. Nasella, chairman of the North­eastern Board of Trustees and a 1977 grad­uate, also addressed atten­dees. He touted Northeastern’s sig­na­ture co-​​op pro­gram, which he said gave him the real-​​world expe­ri­ence to under­stand how busi­ness worked, “from the shop floor up.”

“There hasn’t ever been a job that I didn’t feel con­fi­dent that I could do or learn to do in my career,” he said.

“We’re here to secure North­eastern for the future,” he added.

Later in the evening, a series of inter­ac­tive exhibits allowed vis­i­tors to immerse them­selves in the scope of Northeastern’s inter­dis­ci­pli­nary research, global reach, inno­v­a­tive mindset, and entre­pre­neurial spirit. In var­ious exhibits, stu­dents and fac­ulty show­cased cutting-​​edge projects in game design, cyber­se­cu­rity, and explo­sives detec­tion. Another sta­tion show­cased Northeastern’s Marine Sci­ence Center in Nahant, Mass, where stu­dents and fac­ulty are col­lab­o­rating on research ranging from under­water robotics to cli­mate change studies.

There were also two alumni ven­tures on dis­play: One was Njabini Inc., which helps poor fam­i­lies in rural Kenya grow income-​​generating projects that sup­port their fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties, including a new project that uses a coop­er­a­tive model to bring potato pro­ducers together to col­lec­tively increase their pro­duc­tion and profits. The other was Fresh Truck, a social ven­ture aimed at trans­porting healthy food into urban areas without wide access to gro­cery stores.

North­eastern is under­taking a his­toric, $1 bil­lion cam­paign that will shape the future of teaching, learning, and dis­covery at the uni­ver­sity by sup­porting stu­dents, fac­ulty, and inno­va­tion in edu­ca­tion and research. The cam­paign will also strengthen Northeastern’s part­ner­ships with gov­ern­ment and industry.

Empower: The Cam­paign for North­eastern Uni­ver­sity aims to raise $500 mil­lion in phil­an­thropic sup­port and $500 mil­lion through industry and gov­ern­ment part­ner­ships by 2017. The cam­paign will cap­i­talize on Northeastern’s surging momentum in areas ranging from research to global lead­er­ship in expe­ri­en­tial edu­ca­tion. The number of global co-​​ops has increased 235 per­cent since 2006-​​07, the university’s annual research funding has increased 115 per­cent since 2006, and 90 per­cent of grad­u­ates from 2006 to 2011 were employed full time or enrolled in grad­uate school within nine months after grad­u­a­tion. These are among the many fac­tors con­tributing to the increase in quan­tity and quality of stu­dents the uni­ver­sity attracts, as appli­ca­tions for the fall 2013 freshman class exceeded prior bench­marks in terms of total appli­cants, geo­graphic diver­sity, and quality.

“This his­toric cam­paign is about people empow­ering people,” Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun said. “Since 1898, we have cham­pi­oned inno­va­tion, entre­pre­neur­ship, ser­vice, and the inte­gra­tion of study and real-​​world experience—a tra­di­tion rooted in our co-​​op pro­gram. Today these values are reflected in our global experiential-​​education oppor­tu­ni­ties and use-​​inspired research. Northeastern’s momentum has been extra­or­di­nary, and the best is yet to come.”

The Empower cam­paign will sup­port pro­grams and ini­tia­tives university-​​wide. These include new co-​​op and research oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents, who will be pre­pared to lead emerging, inter­dis­ci­pli­nary fields and industries—from nanomed­i­cine, per­sonal health infor­matics, and net­work sci­ence to green archi­tec­ture and the dig­ital arts. Invest­ments will also equip fac­ulty with the tools and guid­ance to col­lab­o­rate across dis­ci­plines and forge part­ner­ships world­wide, while also con­fronting soci­etal imperatives—among these, health, secu­rity, and sustainability—to develop fresh solu­tions to global challenges.

The cam­paign focuses on three strategic goals:

• Stu­dent sup­port and finan­cial aid, which includes expe­ri­en­tial learning, inter­na­tional edu­ca­tion, schol­ar­ships and fel­low­ships, ath­letics and club sports, com­mu­nity engage­ment, stu­dent research, and oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents to pursue their entre­pre­neurial ambi­tions.

• Fac­ulty advance­ment and expan­sion, which includes endowing new dean­ships, fac­ulty chairs, and pro­fes­sor­ships in order to attract and retain world-​​class researchers and teachers; and building teams of fac­ulty mem­bers that work across dis­ci­plines to deliver leading-​​edge schol­ar­ship.

• Inno­va­tion in edu­ca­tion and research, which will build on Northeastern’s strengths in co-​​op, launch new degree pro­grams, and mod­ernize education-​​delivery sys­tems, in part by adopting new dig­ital com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­nolo­gies; and which will advance use-​​inspired research—particularly in health, secu­rity, and sustainability—and create new research cen­ters that will keep the uni­ver­sity on the leading edge of inven­tion and exploration.

A series of major gifts have already set the stage for suc­cess. Alumni Richard D’Amore and Alan McKim made a joint $60-​​million gift to the busi­ness school, now known as the D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness. And alumnus George J. Kostas invested $12 mil­lion in his alma mater to estab­lish the George J. Kostas Research Insti­tute for Home­land Secu­rity.

Empower cam­paign sup­porters are exerting tremen­dous impact across the uni­ver­sity. Sup­porters have cre­ated a new center for engi­neering entre­pre­neur­ship edu­ca­tion; a co-​​op schol­ar­ship that funds lab­o­ra­tory research on campus by stu­dents who aspire to med­ical school and careers as physician-​​scientists; a fund to sup­port senior engi­neering cap­stone projects; a fund that sup­ports the School of Law’s Ini­tia­tive on Expe­ri­en­tial Edu­ca­tion in Law; the Nasella Family Endow­ment Fund in sup­port of finan­cial aid; and an endow­ment to fund a pro­fes­sional coaching posi­tion for the Sailing Club.

Scheduled to launch this fall, the new program’s curriculum is designed to arm engineering undergraduates with the appropriate entrepreneurial skills to successfully pitch and commercialize their innovations. Workshops and courses will be led by Northeastern faculty and innovators from industry.

“We need to ensure that engineering students are able to communicate in the commercial world,” said Sherman, who graduated with a bachelor of science from the College of Engineering in 1968. In some ways, he said, the “commerciality of innovation is more important than the innovation itself.

“It doesn’t matter how good your product is,” he explained. “If you can’t make a business case for its viability then you won’t be able to bring it to market.”

The center complements Northeastern’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship on campus and will work closely with faculty in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business and IDEA, Northeastern’s student-run venture accelerator.

“Michael’s passion for turning innovative engineers into savvy entrepreneurs resonates deeply with our mission at Northeastern,” said Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern University. “Our students thrive on infusing their knowledge with real-world experiences. Michael’s support will be instrumental for our engineering students and the sustainability of their inventions.”

Nadine Aubry, dean of the College of Engineering, shares Sherman’s passion. “Engineers create products but without taking those to market, what’s the point? Business considerations need to be an integral part of the engineering design process; otherwise engineers waste time designing products that will never be used,” said Aubry, who met Sherman shortly after she had expressed her vision to introduce entrepreneurship in engineering education as new dean last fall. “Michael and Ann’s investment will allow the College to introduce entrepreneurship in our engineering curriculum at a much larger scale.”

Sherman has 40 years of experience in communications hardware and software development, including wireless applications for military, government, and commercial use. His business, AES Corp., of Peabody, Mass., produces and installs leading-edge security products for organizations and households in more than 130 countries around the world.

Sherman grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to Boston in 1963 to attend Northeastern. He credited co-op with giving him the confidence to excel in the business world. “Gaining experience in the work environment made me realize that I could accomplish the business objectives I desired,” he said. “I have always considered Northeastern integral to my career success.”

This multi-million dollar seed investment is a testament to Sherman’s loyal and ongoing support of his alma mater during the last 25 years. He is grateful to be in a position to give back to Northeastern’s crop of burgeoning engineers. “Engineers and the engineering profession will exist long into the future if they are able to become the commercial engines of innovation,” he said.

Thanks to a $250,000 challenge gift from George, P’57, H’98, and Margo Behrakis, more than $1 million in scholarship funds have been raised in honor of the School of Pharmacy’s 50th Anniversary. Behrakis, vice chairman emeritus of the board of trustees, pledged a dollar-for-dollar match to funds generated by other alumni and friends—and more than 50 donors and corporate partners answered the call.

The scholarship was named the School of Pharmacy 50th Anniversary Scholarship Fund and will provide lasting need- and merit-based aid to pharmacy students.

“The School of Pharmacy has become a nationally known research institution that remains steadfastly practice-based,” says Behrakis. “It provides the best pharmacy education possible, and I want to help deserving students be more successful in this increasingly important field.”

The school’s rich his­tory dates back to 1927 when Con­stan­tine Meriano founded the Meriano School of Phar­macy in Boston. In 1940, it was incor­po­rated into the Boston School of Phar­macy, and was renamed the New Eng­land Col­lege of Pharmacy in 1949.

Then, in 1962, the col­lege merged with North­eastern to become the North­eastern Uni­ver­sity Col­lege of Phar­macy. Northeastern’s Bouvé Col­lege of Heath Sci­ences was formed in 1999 and it now houses the School of Phar­macy.

Many enthusiastic alumni met the philanthropic challenge presented by Behrakis, either by making a gift toward already established scholarships or to the Anniversary Scholarship Fund.

Herbert P., P’55, and Marylou Gray contributed significantly to the challenge with a bequest intention in support of the Herb and Mary Lou Gray Scholarship. Through their legacy gift, generations of future pharmacy students will have the opportunity to pursue a Northeastern education.

Bruno, P’64, and Vivienne Mazzotta also made a leadership gift to help students finance what he believes is an excellent education. “At the New England College of Pharmacy, the importance of the pharmaceutical trinity of accuracy, integrity, and service was emphasized by serious and dedicated professionals who molded and motivated our professional and personal character,” Mazzotta says. “This excellence continues today at the Northeastern University School of Pharmacy.”

“On behalf of the entire school community, I wish to thank Dr. and Mrs. Behrakis, Mr. and Mrs. Gray, and Mr. and Mrs. Mazzotta for their generous lead gifts,” says John R. Reynolds, dean of the School of Pharmacy. “We are also grateful to the many alumni, faculty, staff, and friends who contributed to the 50th Anniversary Fund.”

John Merianos, P’61, and Gary Frazier, P’81, also made major gifts to support scholarships in the anniversary year. Numerous other alumni and friends contributed generously as well.

“There is no better way to mark this milestone than by reaffirming our commitment to students,” said Bouvé Dean Terry Fulmer.

To contribute to the School of Pharmacy 50th Anniversary Scholarship Fund and to help grow this important resource for our students, contact Marie-Noël Appel, associate dean of development, at 617.373.2637 or m.appel@neu.edu.

Arthur W. Zafiropoulo, founder, CEO, and chairman of Ultra­tech, Inc., has pro­vided a $2.5 mil­lion gift to estab­lish a new endowed fac­ulty chair in the Col­lege of Engi­neering at North­eastern University.

The fundamental strength of a research uni­ver­sity begins with recruiting and retaining pro­fes­sors who are ded­i­cated to trans­forming the lives of stu­dents through teaching and research,” said Zafiropoulo, whose Sil­icon Valley-​​based com­pany develops, man­u­fac­tures and mar­kets pho­tolith­o­g­raphy and laser thermal processing.

“I think it’s impor­tant that North­eastern have the resources it needs to attract the best under­grad­uate, grad­uate and PhD stu­dents. That begins with attracting the best fac­ulty,” he said. “The future of indi­vidual lives, and the future of our nation, depends on quality education.”

Although Zafiropoulo has resided in Cal­i­fornia for the past 20 years, he was raised in a suburb of Boston in a working-​​class family and attended Northeastern’s Col­lege of Engi­neering in the early 1960s.

“My family’s income level lim­ited the scope of things I could do edu­ca­tion­ally,” he said, adding that it was his modest upbringing that first empow­ered him to sup­port causes to ben­efit young people. His cur­rent phil­an­thropy also sup­ports orga­ni­za­tions such as the Ronald McDonald House in Sil­icon Valley.

“Today I give back for the many rewards I’ve received in my life,” said Zafiropoulo, who is director emer­itus for Semi­con­ductor Equip­ment and Mate­rials Inter­na­tional, a global trade asso­ci­a­tion rep­re­senting the semi­con­ductor, flat-​​panel dis­play equip­ment and mate­rials industry. He is also founder and owner of the suc­cessful Fer­rari deal­er­ship of Sil­icon Valley, one of the largest in North America.

The Art Zafiropoulo Endowed Chair in Engi­neering Fund will directly sup­port the work of an engi­neering fac­ulty member in the Col­lege of Engineering.

“Art is a visionary phil­an­thropist and friend. By endowing a chair, he is ensuring the Col­lege of Engi­neering con­tinues to have a pos­i­tive impact on society over many gen­er­a­tions, in per­pe­tuity. That is the ulti­mate gift a uni­ver­sity can receive,” said Joseph Aoun, pres­i­dent of North­eastern University.

Endowed chairs and pro­fes­sor­ships are among the highest recog­ni­tion that an insti­tu­tion of higher edu­ca­tion can bestow on its fac­ulty, and among the most pow­erful tools North­eastern has for recruiting and retaining top fac­ulty. Donors like Zafiropoulo who estab­lish an endowed chair create a lasting legacy that links their name to excel­lence in research and teaching in per­pe­tuity. Endowed chairs are reserved for dis­tin­guished scholars and teachers and pro­vide funds to the chair holder in sup­port of his or her teaching, research and service.

David Luzzi, former dean of the Col­lege of Engineering—who part­ners with Zafiropoulo on the college’s West Coast Dean’s Advi­sory Council—said, “This is a trans­for­ma­tive and cat­alytic gift for the Col­lege of Engi­neering. Already other alumni and friends are step­ping for­ward and sup­porting our fac­ulty because they respect Art and are inspired by his invest­ment in our shared vision to embrace edu­ca­tion as a means to better our society.”

Zafiropoulo said, “This gift is a small step toward making a large impact. I hope others will take that step with me.”

The challenge’s goal was for 3,500 alumni to make a gift toward any­thing they loved about their expe­ri­ence at North­eastern, and to do it by March 31. In return, McWade, a 1983 grad­uate and senior exec­u­tive at Putnam Invest­ments, promised to make a $100,000 gift to the university.

The goal was met and MacWade gave $100,000 to sup­port what he loved the most about his alma mater—the Col­lege of Arts, Media and Design. And he didn’t stop there. Ener­gized by the huge turnout of his fellow alumni he issued another chal­lenge: in return for sup­port from an addi­tional 500 alumni he would raise the amount of his own gift by an addi­tional $15,000. The April 5 dead­line was once again met with unex­pected turnout of pas­sionate Huskies and MacWade kept his promise.

All told, Mis­sion: MacWade brought in more than $400,000 from 4,785 alumni donors since the chal­lenge was launched.

“This gift is a fan­tastic example of how col­lec­tive giving can move our uni­ver­sity for­ward. It was inspiring to see alumni empow­ering other alumni to give back to their alma mater through annual giving,” said Diane MacGillivray, senior vice pres­i­dent for uni­ver­sity advancement.

“The suc­cess of Mis­sion: MacWade illus­trates how much this uni­ver­sity means to every one of us. Mike put out the chal­lenge and thou­sands of his fellow Huskies answered the call, making a gift to sup­port what they love most about North­eastern,” said Jack Moynihan, vice pres­i­dent for alumni rela­tions and The North­eastern Fund.

As part of the chal­lenge, alumni could offer their sup­port to the North­eastern Fund or to a spe­cific area of the uni­ver­sity most mean­ingful to them.

The North­eastern Fund is the engine that sup­ports the university’s momentum on many fronts. Annual gifts sup­port oper­a­tional and aca­d­emic resource needs that con­tinue to grow as the campus expands and evolves, and annual gifts also serve as impor­tant resources to sup­port teaching, research, and schol­ar­ship priorities.

“We all have a vested interest in this amazing uni­ver­sity, and because of your involve­ment today’s stu­dents, those who are fol­lowing in our foot­steps, will enjoy the same incred­ible oppor­tu­ni­ties we had at North­eastern,” MacWade said in thanking alumni for their support.

It’s perhaps no surprise that Pieter and Yvette Eenkema van Dijk, parents to son Maarten, Class of 2014, decided in December to make Northeastern history, with a standout gift to the Sailing Club. The couple, born in the Netherlands, joke that all Dutch children swim, skate, and sail—after all, they’re surrounded by water. And sailing is their son’s grand passion.

Maarten, a civil engineering major and the club’s co-captain, has been sailing since he was eight. “He’d take his lunchbox and lifejacket, and off he’d go,” his mother remembers. “Summers out on the water were fun, and sailing taught him responsibility and organization.”

But even Maarten was startled when, in December, his parents told him they would pledge $750,000 to the club—enough to generate a coach’s salary in perpetuity. The gift is the largest from nonalumni parents since the university’s founding, and the first to endow a club sport.

To his parents, who had often hosted traveling team members at their home in Darien, Connecticut, the gift made perfect sense. “The thought came when we saw how great these kids were—so smart, polite, funny, and so dedicated,” said Pieter. “Watching them from the docks, we could see how very skilled they were. But they were up against professionally coached teams, and that was a real drawback.

“We wanted to have a lasting effect—to help not only these outstanding sailors, but future generations,” Pieter says.

Adds Yvette: “Sailing requires discipline and strategy—reading the course, the elements, and, of course, your competitors.” It’s a sport, she feels, in which a university of Northeastern’s caliber should excel, especially given its proximity to the Charles River and its superb facilities, which are leased from MIT.

With his fellow sailors, Maarten began strategizing two years ago about ways to identify potential funding sources. Meanwhile, their student-run club was starting to get noticed by big varsity-level teams backed by schools like MIT, Boston University, and Yale. To fill their need for high-level instruction, then-coach-adviser Matthew Largess was pulling in professional coaches at practices. Among them was veteran Olympics coach Jonathan Farrar, whom the students hired in January 2013.

Yvette encourages other parents to support students in whatever way they can. “If you have the means, go for it! Our gift filled a real need. It gave us the great feeling that we had contributed something substantial, with immediate results. Plus, it’s nice to support something our son is so involved in.”

The Sailing Club’s 40-member team has a new goal: to raise $100,000 to replace and expand their fleet of four aging boats. To help, contact Development Officer Shawn Cote, s.cote@neu.edu, 617.373.7391, cell 617.510-9721.

North­eastern alumni Richard D’Amore and Alan McKim invested a com­bined $60 mil­lion in the university’s school of busi­ness last fall, placing them among the nation’s 50 most gen­erous donors to non­profit orga­ni­za­tions in 2012.

According to a reportreleased Monday by The Chron­icle of Phil­an­thropy, D’Amore and McKim both ranked 40th among America’s biggest givers, with each con­tributing $30 mil­lion. Other notable names on the list include busi­ness mag­nate Warren Buf­fett, film­maker Steven Spiel­berg, and Face­book co-​​founder Mark Zuckerberg.

D’Amore, DMSB’76, is a co-​​founder and gen­eral partner at North Bridge Ven­ture Part­ners, a ven­ture cap­ital firm based in Waltham, Mass. McKim, DMSB’88, is the founder and CEO of Clean Har­bors, the nation’s leading provider of envi­ron­mental, energy and indus­trial services.

Their com­bined gift rep­re­sents the largest phil­an­thropic invest­ment in Northeastern’s his­tory. As a result of their gen­erous con­tri­bu­tion, the university’s Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion was offi­cially named the D’Amore-McKim School of Busi­ness.

“A gift is about a pas­sion and a part­ner­ship to make a dream come true and to leave a legacy,” said Joseph E. Aoun, pres­i­dent of North­eastern. “Rich and Alan’s unprece­dented invest­ment in their alma mater will advance North­eastern to new heights and will keep their legacy alive forever.”

Both D’Amore and McKim grew up in the Boston area and enrolled in Northeastern’s Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion as under­grad­u­ates. Although both dropped out, they were each drawn back to the col­lege that would later become their alma mater and, ulti­mately, bear their names. D’Amore received an under­grad­uate busi­ness degree and McKim a master’s in busi­ness administration.

Over the past five years, D’Amore and McKim have become actively engaged with the uni­ver­sity as mem­bers of the Board of Trustees. Their prior gifts focused on inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship, core values that span col­leges and dis­ci­plines at Northeastern.

“Rich D’Amore and Alan McKim are won­derful rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the lasting bonds cre­ated between North­eastern and the stu­dents who come here,” said Diane MacGillivray, senior vice pres­i­dent for uni­ver­sity advance­ment. “I am not sur­prised that two of the top 50 phil­an­thropists in the nation are North­eastern alumni. Nor am I sur­prised that North­eastern inspired them to make such gen­erous and heart­felt gifts. It speaks directly to the kind of insti­tu­tion we are and the incred­ible com­mu­nity of alumni who remain com­mitted to our success.”

In a cel­e­bra­tion of the naming of the school of busi­ness last October, they both expressed their appre­ci­a­tion for the role North­eastern has played in their suc­cess. D’Amore char­ac­ter­ized his invest­ment as a vote of con­fi­dence in Northeastern’s stu­dents, fac­ulty, and senior leaders, all of whom, he said, have remained true to the university’s long­standing “prac­tical, prag­matic and real-​​world orientation.”

In his remarks, McKim noted that studying at North­eastern has “helped shaped who I am as a pro­fes­sional but more impor­tantly as an individual.”

He also chal­lenged young researchers and entre­pre­neurs to make a world­wide dif­fer­ence through class, co-​​op, and extra-​​curricular oppor­tu­ni­ties. “I know this gift will shape tomorrow’s busi­ness leaders and entre­pre­neurs who will create inno­va­tions that will improve our lives,” he said. “I hope stu­dents will take advan­tage of what this unique cul­ture has to offer.”

Northeastern University trustee Venetia Kontogouris, LA’74, and her husband, Zoran Djokic, have pledged $1 million to endow a scholarship for entrepreneurial international students.

“I believe in our youth globally, because they look at the world very differently—and that’s an enormous opportunity for new enterprises to create new jobs and new possibilities,” said Kontogouris, whose Connecticut-based venture capital firm Venkon Group, LLC, invests in early-stage information technology companies worldwide.

Her dedication to fledgling entrepreneurs stems from her own pioneering spirit—and her ability not only to recognize opportunity when it arises, but also to create it.

Kontogouris, a native of Athens, Greece, chose to pursue her education in the United States. At Northeastern, her perspective as an outsider and her astute observations on American culture taught her the value of being nimble.

“Any human being with exposure to different cultures develops skills you cannot get by being exposed to a single way of life,” Kontogouris said. “A lot of my own insights are the result of being at ease in many different circumstances.”

After earning a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago, where she met Djokic, Kontogouris rose through the corporate ranks during stints at IBM, Dun & Bradstreet, and Cognizant Corporation. Executive positions in venture capital firms followed, including running a joint venture with Bain Capital and a tenure at Trident Capital, where she co-managed more than $1.7 billion in early-stage investments. In 2011, Kontogouris launched her own company, Venkon.

Kontogouris is resolutely committed to advancing innovation through global partnerships. In the midst of Greece’s financial crisis, she and Djokic sharpened their focus on her native country, where they discerned an opportunity for education to power economic change.

“We realized that by teaching Greek students that it’s possible to develop new ideas and start businesses through entrepreneurship, we could help them rebuild their economy,” said Djokic.

With a $1 million investment, part of which will come to the university through a charitable gift annuity—the couple will assist Greek students seeking to bring entrepreneurial thinking to their studies. The Kontogouris-Djokic Scholarship will support international undergraduate or graduate students who would not otherwise be able to afford a Northeastern education. It is their hope that these students will return to Greece to build a stronger, more diverse economy.

“Northeastern’s international students are determined to acquire the knowledge, skills, and experience that will allow them to build stronger economies and communities at home and abroad,” said President Joseph E. Aoun. “Thanks to Venetia and Zoran, generations of talented students will have the opportunity to attain the education necessary to make a difference, both for Greece and for our global economy.”

Endowed scholarships generate a stream of permanent support and empower gifted students to engage in transformative experiences while earning a degree.

Kontogouris and Djokic want their gift to inspire other alumni, parents, and friends to step forward and invest in Northeastern’s students.

“It’s our hope that people from other countries will be moved to build a bridge linking the youth of their own country, Northeastern, and that country’s future,” said Kontogouris. “We can do our part to drive the economy forward. The world is changing, nothing is staying constant. We cannot stay put as the rest of the world moves ahead.”